Showing posts with label long list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long list. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

The Story Prize Longlist for Collections Published in 2025

In 2025, The Story Prize received as entries 114 books published by 72 different publishers or imprints. Unlike most other books awards, we release our longlist after we announce our shortlist of three finalists. These sixteen books, plus the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner (Trying to Be by John Haskell), combine to highlight 20 short story collections. Here are the books on our longlist: 



As we always say (and truly believe), anyone who writes and publishes a short story collection has overcome significant obstacles, has accomplished something noteworthy, and deserves enormous credit. As always, we received more worthwhile short story collections than we could possibly mention without making our longlist too long to be meaningful. We encourage readers to explore the full list of 2025 collections entered for The Story Prize on Bookshop.org.

We'll announce the 22nd winner of The Story Prize on March 31 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—André Alexis, Lydia Millet, and Ayşegül Savaş. Before then, we'll provide a link to watch the program live or online in the days that follow the announcement of the winner.
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Monday, February 17, 2025

The Story Prize Longlist for Story Collections Published in 2024

At The Story Prize we release a longlist of notable short story collections published in the previous year a few weeks after we announce our shortlist of three finalists. That list of 16 books, plus the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner (The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck), combine to highlight 20 short story collections. In 2024, The Story Prize received as entries 107 books published by 82 different publishers or imprints. Here are the books on our longlist: 


        •  Ghostroots by 'Pemi Aguda (W.W. Norton & Company) 
        •  How to Get Along Without Me by Kate Axelrod (Clash Books) 
        •  Ricky by Whitney Collins (Sarabande Books)
        •  Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press)
        •  Bugsy by Rafael Frumkin (Simon & Schuster)
        •  The Best That You Can You Do by Amina Gautier (Soft Skull)
        •  The Body Farm by Abby Geni (Counterpoint Press)
        •  Practice for Becoming a Ghost by Patrick Thomas Henry (Susquehanna
        Univ. Press)
        •  The Goodbye Process by Mary Jones (Zibby Books)
        •  How It Works Out by Myriam Lacroix (The Overlook Press)
        •  Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima (Tor)
        •  Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart by Genarose Nethercott (Vintage Books)
        •  How to Make Your Mother Cry by Sejal Shah (West Virginia Univ. Press)
        •  Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte (William Morrow)
        •  Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia (Tin House)
        •  Beautiful Days by Zach Williams (Doubleday)

Altogether, we received more worthwhile books than we could possibly mention without making our longlist a too-long-list, and it was difficult to narrow down the choices. It takes us a while to accomplish this because we do a fair amount of rereading. As always, we believe that anyone who writes and publishes a short story collection has overcome difficult obstacles, has accomplished something significant, and deserves enormous credit.  

We'll announce the 21st winner of The Story Prize on March 25 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—Fiona McFarlane, Ruben ReyesJr., and Jessi Jezewska Stevens. Before then, we'll provide a link to watch the program live or online in the days that follow the announcement of the winner.
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Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Story Prize Longlist for Story Collections Published in 2023

At The Story Prize, we announce our shortlist of three finalists first—as we did a few weeks ago—then release our longlist later. The three finalists, The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner (which we recently announced), and the longlist combine to highlight 20 books. Here are the books published in 2023 that we've chosen:

        •  Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal (Simon & Schuster)
        •  Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
        •  I Meant It Once by Kate Doyle (Algonquin Books)
        •  The Faraway World by Patricia Engle (Avid Reader Press)
        •  Elsewhere by Yan Ge (Scribner)
        •  After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley (Alfred A. Knopf)
        •  Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny (Alfred A. Knopf)
        •  The Best Possible Experience by Nishanth Injam (Pantheon)
        •  So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan (Grove Press)
        •  Disruptions by Steven Millhauser (Alfred A. Knopf)
        •  I Am My Country by Kenan Orhan (Random House)
        •  The Disappeared by Andrew Porter (Alfred A. Knopf)
        •  This Is Salvaged by Vauhini Vara (W.W. Norton)
        •  The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela (Astra House)
        •  Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine (Tin House)
        •  The Sorrows of Others by Ada Zhang (A Public Space)

Last year, The Story Prize received 113 books published by 84 different publishers or imprints. We read more worthwhile short story collections than is practical to include on our longlist, and it was very difficult to narrow down the choices. (That's why we take extra time to do some rereading before releasing our list.) As always, we believe that every writer who writes and publishes a short story collection has accomplished something significant and deserves a ton of credit. 

We've put together a Bookshop list of all the story collections that we received in 2023, many more worth reading than can fit on our longlist. We'll announce the 20th winner of The Story Prize on March 26 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—Yiyun Li, Bennett Sims, and Paul Yoon. Before then, we'll provide links to watch the program live or online in the days that follow the announcement of the winner.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023

The Story Prize Longlist for Story Collections Published in 2022

In 2022, The Story Prize received 119 books published by 79 publishers or imprints. Every writer who published a short story collection last year accomplished something significant and deserves a lot of credit. 

The Story Prize announces its shortlist of three finalists first—as we did a few weeks ago—then releases its longlist later. The three finalists, The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner, and the longlist combine to highlight twenty books. Here's the list:

• How Strange a Season by Megan Mayhew Bergman (Scribner)
• Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo (Catapult)
• Pretend It's My Body by Luke Dani Blue (The Feminist Press)
• Tomorrow in Shanghai by May-Lee Chai (Blair)
• Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin (Catapult)
• If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Stories From the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana (Scribner)
• The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land by Omer Friedlander (Random House)
• A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times by Meron Hadero (Restless Books)
• Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho (Viking)
• Antipodes by Holly Goddard Jones (University of Iowa Press)
• The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai (Viking)
• The Partition by Don Lee (Akashic Press)
• Two Nurses Smoking by David Means (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Consequences by Manuel Muñoz (Graywolf Press)
• Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman (Scribner)

We've put together a Bookshop list of story collections that we received in 2022, many of them worth reading, even beyond this list. We'll announce the 19th winner of The Story Prize on March 15 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—Andrea Barrett, Ling Ma, and Morgan Talty. Before then, we'll provide links to watch the program live or online in the days that follow.

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Thursday, February 24, 2022

The Story Prize Longlist for Story Collections Published in 2021

Writing, assembling, and publishing a short story collection takes years of creative effort and remarkable perseverance. Every writer who published a collection in 2021 truly accomplished something significant and deserves an enormous amount of credit. Last year, The Story Prize received as entries 119 books published by 90 publishers or imprints. We choose the shortlist of three finalists first, then release our longlist a few weeks later. The three finalists, The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner, and the longlist combined highlight 20 books. Here then is our longlist of 16 outstanding short story collections (links are to Bookshop):

You Never Get It Back by Cara Blue Adams (University of Iowa Press)
The Ghost Variations by Kevin Brockmeier (Pantheon)
Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen (Mariner)
Skinship by Yoon Choi (Alfred A. Knopf)
Gordo by Jaime Cortez (Black Cat)
Life Among the Terranauts by Caitlin Horrocks (Little, Brown)
Love Like Water, Love Like Fire by Mikhail Iossel (Bellevue Literary Press)
My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Henry Holt)
The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken (Ecco Press)
Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz (Grove Press)
The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You by Maurice Carlos Ruffin (One World)
King of the Animals by Josh Russell (Louisiana State University Press)
American Estrangement by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh (W.W. Norton)
Are You Enjoying? by Mira Sethi (Alfred A. Knopf)
Attrib. by Eley Williams (Anchor Books)
Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique (Riverhead Books)

We've posted a Bookshop list of all the story collections that we received as entries in 2021. It was a great year for short story collections, and more than 20 other books could easily have made this list. It's always difficult to narrow the field down, and it seems to get harder every year. 

We also want to recognize several excellent books by accomplished short story writers published in 2021: The Glassy Burning, Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson, Big Dark Hole by Jeffrey Ford, The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus, The (Other) You by Joyce Carol Oates, Prayer for the Living by Ben Okri, Excuse Me While I Disappear by Joanna Scott, Look for Me and I'll Be Gone by John Edgar Wideman, and Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket by Hilma Wolitzer. 

Two other collections published in 2021 that weren't eligible for The Story Prize are also worth noting: Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So, who sadly died before his acclaimed debut collection was published, and Festival Days by Jo Ann Beard, a remarkable hybrid that includes a mix of short stories and essays. 

We'll announce the 18th winner of The Story Prize on April 13 at a private event that we'll livestream (details to come), featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—Lily King, J. Robert Lennon, and Brandon Taylor—followed by the announcement of the winner.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021

The Story Prize Longlist for Short Story Collections Published in 2020

 

Not pictured: Animal Spirit by Francesca Marciano

In 2020, The Story Prize received as entries 121 books published by 82 publishers or imprints. We choose the shortlist of three finalists first, then release our longlist a few weeks later. The three finalists, The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner, and the longlist combined highlight 24 books this time. Because of the high number of entries last year, we're including a few more books than usual. Here then is our longlist of 20 outstanding short story collections (links are to guest Instagram posts):

  • Aligator by Dima Alzayat (Two Dollar Radio)
  • Why Visit America by Matthew Baker (Henry Holt and Company)
  • Daddy by Emma Cline (Random House)
  • Heartland Calamitous by Michael Credico (Autumn House Press)
  • If The Body Allows It by Megan Cummins (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford (Grove Press)
  • The Prince of Mournful Thoughts by Caroline Kim (University of Pittsburgh Press)
  • Animal Spirit by Francesa Marciano (Pantheon Books)
  • Cool for America by Andrew Martin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Why I Don't Write by Susan Minot (Alfred A. Knopf)
  • The World Doesn't Work That Way, but It Could by Xyta Maya Murray (University of Nevada Press)
  • Sleepovers by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips (Hub City Writers Project)
  • Last One Out Shut Off the Lights by Stephanie Soileau (Little, Brown and Company)
  • You Will Never Be Forgotten by Mary South (FSG Originals)
  • And I Do Not Forgive You by Amber Sparks (Liveright Publishing)
  • A House Is a Body by Shruti Swamy (Algonquin Books)
  • How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa (Little, Brown and Company)
  • I Hold a Wolf by the Ears by Laura van den Berg (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Sansei and Sensibility by Karen Tei Yamashita (Coffee House Press)
  • Verge by Lidia Yuknavitch (Riverhead Books)

Copies of these short story collections are available through our list 2020/21 Story Prize finalists, Spotlight Award winner, and long list books on Bookshop. We've also posted a shopping list of all the short story collections we received as entries in 2020.

Although 2020 was by no means a great year overall, it was a great year for short story collections, and more than a dozen other books could easily have made this list. It's always difficult to narrow the field down, and it seems to get harder every year.
 
Writing, assembling, and publishing a short story collection takes years of creative effort and remarkable perseverance. Every writer who published one in 2020 truly accomplished something significant and deserves an enormous amount of credit.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize on March 10, at which time we'll post a video that will feature readings by and interviews with the three finalists: Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Danielle Evans, and Deesha Philyaw.
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Monday, January 27, 2020

The Story Prize Longlist for Short Story Collections Published in 2019

In 2019, The Story Prize received as entries 94 books published by 72 publishers or imprints. We choose the shortlist of three finalists first, then release our longlist a few weeks later. Between the three finalists, The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner, and the longlist, we acknowledge a total of 20 books. Here then is the longlist of 16 outstanding short story collections:


Every writer who published a short story collection in 2019 accomplished something of great significance and deserves an enormous amount of credit. It's always difficult to narrow the field down, and this time was no exception.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize at an event co-sponsored with The New School's Creative Writing program at the auditorium at 66 W. 12 Street on March 6. At the event, finalists Edwidge Danticat, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and Zadie Smith will read from and discuss their work. You can buy tickets in advance online or that night at the box office.
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Friday, February 1, 2019

The Story Prize Longlist for Short Story Collections Published in 2018


Beyond the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner, here's a list (alphabetical by the author's last name) of other books we read in 2018 that particularly stood out for us:

In 2018, The Story Prize received as entries 108 books published by 79 publishers or imprints. We choose the shortlist of three finalists first, then release our longlist a few weeks later because it's difficult to narrow the field down—especially when so many of the books we read are worth a second look. 

Our longlist can only represent a limited number of books and of necessity leaves out dozens of good short story collections. To be sure, not every book we read rises to such a level. Nonetheless, every writer who published a short story collection last year accomplished something significant and deserves an enormous amount of credit.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize at an event co-sponsored with The New School's Creative Writing program at the auditorium at 66 W. 12 Street on March 6. At the event, finalists Jamel Brinkley, Deborah Eisenberg, and Lauren Groff will read from and discuss their work. You can buy tickets in advance online or that night at the box office. 
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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

The Story Prize Long List for Collections Published in 2017


Here is a list (alphabetical by author) of other books we read in 2017—beyond the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner—that particularly stood out for us:

In 2017, The Story Prize received as entries 120 books published by 93 publishers or imprints. As difficult as it is to choose three finalists, it is in many ways even more difficult to narrow the field down to a long list of other notable story collections—especially when the number of excellent books is as high as it was. Easily more than a dozen other titles we read this past year could have been on this list, but even a long list can only be so long.

Anyone who published a short story collection last year accomplished something significant and deserves an enormous amoount of credit. While, subjectively at least, short story collections seem to be garnering more space in major book reviews, too many of them still get far too little attention. And that means too few show up in end of year lists. So, please, if you're looking for something good to read, consider these and other recently published story collections.

So strong was the field this year, that to narrow it down, I decided to put aside a handful of books by stalwart short story writers so skillful and accomplished that they could easily have been finalists or made our long list. In fact, two have been finalists for The Story Prize before: Tessa Hadley and Jim Shepard. You can't go wrong with these short story collections (or hardly any of the stories in them):

Keep in mind: We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize at an event co-sponsored with The New School's Creative Writing program at the auditorium at 66 W. 12 Street on Feb. 28. At the event, finalists Daniel Alarcón, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Elizabeth Strout will read from and discuss their work. You can buy tickets in advance online or that night at the box office. And in the days ahead, be on the lookout for an index of 2017 author posts that appeared on this blog.
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Monday, January 30, 2017

The Story Prize Long List for Collections Published in 2016



In 2016, The Story Prize received as entries 106 books published by 72 publishers or imprints. We aim for a broad definition of what a "short story collection" is. Some books labeled as novels, for instance, sometimes also work as story collections, particularly when each chapter or section has a distinct title and introduces new characters or situations.

As difficult as it is to choose three finalists, it is in many ways just as difficult to come up with a long list of other notable story collections. I don't think we can repeat this often enough: Anyone who publishes a short story collection has accomplished something significant and nothing should diminish that achievement. More than a dozen other books we read this past year could have been on this list. But ultimately, even a long list can only be so long.

Here then is a list (alphabetical by author) of other books we read in 2016—beyond the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner—that particularly stood out for us:


We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize at an event co-sponsored with The New School's Creative Writing program at the Auditorium at 66 W. 12 Street on March 8. At the event, finalists Rick Bass, Anna Noyes, and Helen Maryles Shankman will read from and discuss their work. You can buy tickets in advance online, or that night at the box office.
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Saturday, January 30, 2016

The Story Prize Long List for Collections Published in 2015


We received 100 short story collections as entries for The Story Prize in 2015. Beyond the three finalists and the winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award, here's a long list of some other collections that particularly stood out for us:


It's very difficult to narrow this list down to a reasonable length. Every author who published a short story collection in 2015 deserves a great deal of credit, and at least a dozen other books we read could easily have been included.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize at an event co-sponsored with The New School's Creative Writing program at the Auditorium at 66 W. 12 Street on March 2. At the event, finalists Charles Baxter, Adam Johnson, and Colum McCann will read from and discuss their work. You can buy tickets in advance online or that night at the box office.
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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Long List: Other Outstanding 2014 Short Story Collections


We received 129 short story collections in 2014, the most ever entered for The Story Prize in a single year. Beyond the three finalists and the winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award, here's a long list of some other collections that particularly stood out for us:


We publish our long list after our short list of finalists because in some ways it's even more difficult to make these choices. We read many other worthwhile collections, but to keep the list at a somewhat reasonable length, we had to draw a line somewhere. Every author who published a short story collection in 2014 deserves a great deal of credit, and at least a dozen other books we read could easily have made this list. 
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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Other Outstanding 2013 Short Story Collections

We received 96 short story collections in 2013, many of them well worth reading. Beyond the three finalists and the winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award, here is a long list of other collections that particularly stood out for us:



Keeping our long list to a reasonable length—14 books this time around—entailed drawing a somewhat arbitrary line that leaves out quite a few exceptional short story collections that might be on many other readers' lists. In the end, such choices are to a large degree personal and subjective.

Writing a story collection and seeing it through to publication is an immense accomplishment, and every author of every book we read in 2013 truly deserves to take a bow. We hope readers will explore the books on and beyond this list—along with the many fine short story collections that no doubt will be coming out this year.

* Titles link to IndieBound listings, author names to guest posts on this blog.
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Friday, February 1, 2013

Other Outstanding 2012 Collections

When you read 98 short story collections in a year, as we did in 2012, a variety of factors beyond what's on the page contribute to the impression you form of any particular book. These include: the amount of time you have to read each (many arrive close to our July and November deadlines), the order you read them in, where you are when you read them, your own biases (some you're aware of, some you're not), even the state of mind you're in when you pick a particular book up. Although over time a consensus can form about certain authors (e.g., Mavis Gallant, Alice Munro, and William Trevor) or short story collections (Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find, J. D. Salinger's Nine Stories, or Dennis Johnson's Jesus' Son) whose excellence isn't in doubt, reading is largely subjective.

That makes it hard to choose three short story collections as finalists, one for The Story Prize Spotlight Award, and a list of other outstanding collections beyond those four. Which is to say that the absence of a book from a list like this isn't a reflection of its quality. Every author who published a short story collection in 2012 succeeded against the odds, accomplished something exemplary, and deserves to take a bow, as did the 65 publishers and imprints that put out the books we read.

Here then are twelve worthy titles, beyond our three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner:

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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Outstanding and Notable 2011 Collections


So many of the short story collections we read for The Story Prize in 2011 were skillful, engaging, and well-deserving of a wider readership. We could only choose three books as finalists. However, we read several other 2011 collections we considered to be worthy of attention. We found these seven books, in particular, to be outstanding:


And we highly recommend these notable collections (though many others we read could also have been on this list):



* [Author links are to guest posts on The Story Prize blog. 
Book links are to IndieBound or other bookselling outlets.]
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